Any person who lives in mountainous or hilly terrain."He gave credence to the long-standing impression that southern highlanders were as a whole 'a hardy race of European dissenters' of very different stock from other southern colonists…. As backwoodsmen and highlanders, they opposed slavery formally, through abolitionist organizations, newspapers, or institutions of higher education…." (John C. Inscoe, Appalachians and Race: "Introduction" 1, 2001)"Other essayists, however, detect significant distinctions between highlander and lowlander—differences in racial attitudes (abolitionist or rabid racist), in the types of work that African Americans performed, and in the extent to which perceptions of whiteness shaped how outsiders understood the region and acted toward it." (John C. Inscoe, Appalachians and Race: "Introduction" 10, 2001)
